Computer-mediated ethnographic research through international collaboration - A pilot study

Abstract

Against the backdrop of a constructivist approach to teaching and learning, this project seeks to foster language and intercultural learning, as well as digital literacies, of English learners in Hong Kong through online collaboration with native and expert speakers of English in Auckland, NZ. More specifically, in Spring 2016, 40 students enrolled in the undergraduate course Intercultural Communication (EN3504) in the Department of English at City University of Hong Kong will collaborate with students enrolled in the Bachelor of Education in the School of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, University of Auckland/New Zealand. As part of their ethnographic research project requirement in the course in Hong Kong, learners will be collecting and analyzing computer-mediated data produced through social media interactions with their peers in Auckland. Interactions will encompass synchronous and asynchronous social networking tools such as Facebook, Skype, Google Hangounts, or Whatsapp. In keeping with the City University of Hong Kong's Discovery-Enhanced Curriculum, of particular relevance will be learner's documentation of their learning processes as well as their joint products, i.e., the authoring, evaluating, and publishing of their ethnographic research projects in the form of digital portfolios.